Porcelain is considered as a combination of fire and earth, which is one of the great Chinese inventions ranging from the initial form of proto－porcelain in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties to the glory of Jindezhen wares in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, from ordinary popular utensils to showy wares fired in imperial kilns. It is the result of numerous skillful craftsmen’s enterprise and continuous innovation that porcelain could possess such a fine structure, smooth glaze surface, elegant model and graceful decoration. It is both practical and admirable, embodying the track of history and culture and loved by people at home and abroad.

    Here is a fine collection of porcelains covering proto－porcelain and whitewares, which is a kind of porcelain with white glaze outside, existing from the Northern Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasty, especially fine pieces found from the Northern Dynasty. The porcelain in Shanxi, which was an important origin in north China in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, was of unique plain style. Later in the Yuan Dynasty, Jindezhen became the center of porcelain production, pushing the art of Chinese porcelain into a new developing era.